Honeymoon murder: Shrien Dewani profile

Following allegations made in a Cape Town court that British businessman
Shrien Dewani offered £1,300 to murder his wife Anni Dewani here is a
profile of the care-home executive.

Anni and Shrien Dewani Photo: PA

By Laura Roberts

1:59PM GMT 07 Dec 2010

Shrien Dewani and his wife Anni were carjacked on November 13, 2010 as their chauffeur-driven car took a detour through Gugulethu, one of the poorest townships of Cape Town.

Mr Dewani, 30, told police he raised the alarm after he was released unharmed by their attackers. His 28 year-old wife's body was found on the back seat of the abandoned car the following morning. She had been shot in the neck, chest and hand.

There have been certain inconsistencies in Mr Dewani's account of the ambush.

He told one newspaper that Mrs Dewani had wanted to see "the real Africa". However, he later told another reporter it was the idea of the driver to make the detour.

Mr Dewani also spoke of how his attackers "forced me out the back of the passenger window as the car was moving". In another interview he said the car was stationary when he was bundled out.

In the same interview he added that he and his wife had been held for 40 minutes before he was bundled out, 20 minutes longer than in his first account.

Since the murder he has repeatedly denied that he had any involvement in his wife's death and was allowed to leave South Africa by police four days after the murder.

Since then the millionaire businessman, from Westbury-on-Trym, near Bristol, has hired Max Clifford, the celebrity PR guru, as his spokesman.

His late wife's family have called for him to return to South Africa to help police with their investigations.

On Tuesday December 7 their driver during the attack, Zola Tongo, claimed Mr Dewani offered him £1,300 (15,000 Rand) to kill his wife. The accusation was made in a Cape Town court and Mr Tongo made the accusation following a plea bargain.

Mr Clifford has described the claims as "ludicrous".

Previously Mr Dewani's brother, Preyen Dewani, issued a statement via Mr Clifford saying his brother feared he would be wrongly implicated to save the reputation of South Africa. He said: "He is fully aware of the false accusations and the possibility that by attaching blame to him, the people may divert this matter away from concerns over the security of South Africa."

The couple met when Mrs Dewani, née Hindocha, came to Britain last year to stay with her cousin Sneha, who was living in Luton. They became engaged in June.

Mr and Mrs Dewani had married in a "fairytale" Hindu ceremony in Mumbai, surrounded by family and friends just two weeks before the attack.

They started their honeymoon with a four-day safari near South Africa's Kruger Park and had been in Cape Town for only a day when the carjacking took place.

Mr Dewani was engaged once before, in 2008, but ended the relationship after a couple of months.

His first fiancée was Rani Kansagra, now 26, a British Asian, whose father, Bhupendra "Bhulo" Kansagra, has links to Kenya. He was a co-founder of spiceJet, the Indian low-cost airline. Miss Kansagra works in London and lives in Middlesex. She met Mr Dewani in 2008 and they became engaged after a couple of months.

However, in February 2009, the relationship fell apart and Mr Dewani, from Westburyon-Trym, brought it to an end.

Mr Dewani, who was educated at Bristol Grammar School and qualified as a chartered accountant with Deloitte, left his City job in 2005 to expand the family health care business and property empire in the South West with his brother, Preyen. The pair increased turnover by £3million within 18 months and planned a care village in south Wales and a chain of luxurious care centres for the elderly.

A report claiming PSP Healthcare - the care home service run with his brother and father, Prakash - was £6.25 million in debt, proved to be false. However, accounts showed the company was £4.1 million in debt, which prompted the family to ask their auditors to make a statement about the financial health of the company.

Mike Dunkley, of Dunkley's chartered accountants, was unequivocal: "We have absolutely no cause for any concern with the trading position of the company, its funding strategy or its financial standing."